ICM, The Brain and Spine Institute, is a state-approved private nonprofit neuroscience research foundation located within the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital complex in Paris, France’s largest hospital and one of the world’s foremost centers for nervous system diseases. It is only natural that the ICM should stand in the very birthplace of neurology where Jean-Martin Charcot founded the first neurology chair at the end of the 19th century and where the first brain surgery was performed.

The ICM provides state-of-the-art facilities for more than 500 researchers and technicians from all over the world. It aims to increase the efficiency of neuroscience research through translational research integrating the fields of molecular and cellular biology, neurophysiology, and cognitive science, to find practical answers in terms of basic knowledge and treatment, so as to relieve, cure, prevent, and repair the disorders of the brain and spinal cord. The ICM closely interacts with the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, and benefits from its huge reservoir of patients and clinical, biological, and tissue databases. It has also established close relationships with institutional and industrial partners, and interacts with society at large through various scientific and cultural programs and activities.